LG G5 modular smartphone review

The LG G5 was released 2016 April, in spite of the fact that it is a successor of the G4 it also comes as a special gadget. First off all the Lg G5 has a modular design with a removable base for various Mods (called Friends by LG).

Further more Lg G5 sports a 5.3-inch IPS LCD with the Always On feature. G5 is powered by the powerful processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 octa-processor with 4GB of RAM, 32GB internal memory, plus a 256GB memory expansion through a microSD card is incorporated.

G5 is equipped with 2,800 mAh battery which is low, but can be replaced to another if the battery runs out, replacing battery sometimes can be hard because it’s a very technical process. The G5 runs Android 7.0 Nougat, and comes in different colour choices titan, gold, pink and silver.

The LG G5’s unique modular design lets you swap in different accessories that work with the smartphone; while some of these actually connect to the device, others don’t and this is why LG kept to the Friends name (instead of calling them modules).

There only two mods available and these are the LG Cam Plus and the LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play but they are not available in Pakistan.

The LG Cam Plus is the company’s camera grip, which provides physical controls for launching the camera, taking a photo, video, zooming in and out of an image and recording video. The Cam Plus also packs an additional 1,200mAh battery, which can keep your phone topped up – when the phone is not being used that is – and the only real downside is the bulk it adds to the G5, which makes it uncomfortable to use as an actual phone.

The LG Hi-Fi Plus is an entirely different type of module as it appeals very much to audiophiles and music lovers. Developed in partnership with Bang & Olufsen, the Hi-Fi Plus is a 32-bit DAC and headphone amp, which features an ES9028C2M + Sabre9602 chipset for supporting music up to 384KHz.

The DAC features its own headphone jack (in addition to the regular one at the top of the phone), its own speaker and the USB Type-C charging port and can also be used as a standalone DAC when not being used with the G5.

The 24-bit audio experience on the LG G5 is already quite impressive, and the Hi-Fi Plus serves to improve this further, offering additional space, clarity and detail to the sound.